The Exhibitor (May-Aug 1948)

NT-2 THE EXHIBITOR been acquired by Dezel. His Kansas city unit has the Masterpiece product. Suit was filed in Circuit Court by several Detroit theatre owners to declare Detroit’s Daylight saving Time ordinance invalid. The theatre owners argued that theirs is essen¬ tially an “after dark” business, and that prolonged daylight had reduced their patronage. The suit was filed by Attorney Ralph Garber who asked that a date be set for a show-cause hearing why an injunction should not be issued to prevent Detroit from enforcing its DST ordinance. Garber was acting for the Independent The¬ atre Owners Association, Inc. , with more than 40 theatres, mostly in De¬ troit. They include Greater Detroit Theatres, Inc. , owner and operator, Carmen, Dearborn; the Oliver Amuse¬ ment Corporation, owner and operator, Oliver, and Harold H. Smilay, partner in the Loop Theatre Operating com¬ pany, Loop. Indianapolis Peter Rosian, district manager, U-International , visited the branch in the interests of business. Return¬ ing to Cincinnati, he stopped at Ft. Wayne, Ind. , to pay a business visit at the Quimby Theatres headquarters ....James Ehringer and wife were business visitors. Ehringer operates the Albion, Albion, Ind. Mrs. Ester Best, U-I ledger clerk, was vacationing in Chicago. ... Helen Sheets, Republic office staff, com¬ pleted three years of uninterrupted service. She has never been late. . . . Edwin Brauer, manager, Republic, spent three days at the home office in New York City, reviewing the anti¬ trust suit filed by the National, Louisville, Ky. ... Suzanne Queisser, National Theatre Supply stenographer, and Harold Jones were married. Frank Soule, manager of exchange operations, Eagle Lion, was a visitor, inspecting the headway being made in the branch expansion program. . . .Claude McKean, manager, Warners, went to Pittsburgh. J. Charles Clickner opened a branch here for the Mid-West Theatre Supply Company, 446-448 North Illinois Street. RCA theatre equipment will be featured, including a complete stock of other equipment. Visitors included: William T. Studebaker, Logan, Logansport, Ind.; George Reefe, Millers Circuit, Tipton, Ind. ; Kenneth Law, cozy, Argus, Ind. ; A. McCarty, Roxy, Pendleton, Ind., and A. Berger, Drive-In, Law¬ rence, Ind.... Edwin Brauer, manager, Republic, stopped at Cleveland on .his return from New York City, ana visited “Wild Bill” Elliott. Tom C. Baker, and Earl Herndon, Affiliated Theatres, Inc. , spent several days in New York City. . . . Michael Delbacano, from the U-I home office, is a booker’s student here ....Doris Blankehbaker , U-I biller, is visiting her son, Albert Blankenbaker, who operates the Pastime, Richmond, Ind. The Indianapolis Variety Club, Tent 10, has agreed to equip a $2000 playground for the children at Tyndall Towne, a suburb. Formal dedication ceremonies are planned following com¬ pletion of the playground, but no date has yet been set. The Variety Club committee in charge of the pro¬ ject includes Earl Herndon, chairman; Marc Wolf, and Russell Brentlinger. Fred V. and Eva M. Willey, oper¬ ators, Fox, Brazil, Ind., last fort¬ night filed a $381,000 treble-damage suit in federal court, Terre Haute, Ind., against Affiliated Theatres, Inc. , of this city; Citizen’ s Theatre Company, Brazil, and 23 producer and distributing firms. According to the plaintiffs, their inability to obtain current product forced them to close the Fox in 1946. They ask costs and an injunction enjoining the defend¬ ants “from continuing monopolistic practices”. Pittsburgh Albert Dezel, president, Albert Dezel Productions, Inc. , announced that a deal had been closed with Max Shulgod, Crown Films Company, for the local distribution of “The Return Of Kit Carson”, “The Return Of The Mo¬ hicans”, and “Kartoon Karnival”. M. A. Silver, zone manager, Warner Theatres, announced that James M. Totman, advertising and publicity director in the Pittsburgh zone for the past seven years, had been promoted to succeed the late Thomas J. Fordham as district manager in the northwestern Pennsylvania territory. Totman has been with Warners for more than 20 years In 1937, he was named assistant ad¬ vertising and publicity director in the Pittsburgh office, and, in 1941, was promoted to advertising director of the theatre circuit. Totman will continue to make his headquarters in Pittsburgh, and his new territory will include theatres in Butler, Ridgway, Brookville, Erie, Punxsu tawney, Titusville, Sharon, Warren, and Oil City. Henry Burger, assistant advertising director since 1942, succeeds James M. Totman as ad-publicity head in the Pittsburgh WB Theatres office. Burger has been with the theatre circuit since 1934, and, prior to his pro¬ motion to the Pittsburgh office, managed theatres in Pittsburgh and West Virginia. Jack Kahn has returned to the theatre company after a sixmonth period of radio program writing in Baltimore. He has been appointed assistant to Burger. Charles Comar, veteran manager, En¬ right, East Liberty, Pa. , has been promoted to head the personnel de¬ partment for WB Theatres. Comar suc¬ ceeds Fred A. LaBelle, who is on an extended leave of absence. Russ Schira, who has been Bill El¬ der’ s assistant at the Penn, recently resigned to join the advertising staff of The Post-Gazette. ... Cecel ia Cook, secretary in the Metro office for the past five years, set July 3 for the date of her marriage to Patrick J. McCann. Anita Colby was in covering the news¬ papers and radio in the interest of Paramount’ s “The Emperor Waltz”. . . . John Walsh, Fulton manager, suffered a painful elbow when a taxicab scraped it when he had his arm out of his car window. ... The wife of Ed Good, head shipper, Eagle Lion, recently opened an antique and gift shop in the Oak¬ land district, directly across the street from the Montefiere Hospital. Seek Hawkins Activities: The Pitts¬ burgh Press and the Harris Amusement Company played hosts at the Gardens to 280 Rangers and Rangerettes at a performance of the Buster Crabbe “Aqua Parade of 1948”, while the Stanley played host to the Childrens Hospital Mercy Group Rally at a screening of “The Noose Hangs High”. STATE OUT-OF-TOWN VISITORS: Theodore Mikolowsky, Rex and Liberty, Masontown; Paul Panagatocas, Park, Johns¬ town; Lawrence Lowstutter, State, Meyersdale; James Bell, Penn, New Castle; Henry Friedman, Penn, Ambridge; Joseph Cevario, Valley, Brackenridge; Hayes Garbarino, New Bradford, Brad¬ ford; W. L. Zedaker, Clay, Claysville; Durward Coe, Rialto, Daisytown; Elmer Hasley, Main and Terrace, East Pitts¬ burgh, and Mrs. Louise Muir, Grand, Elizabeth. Perry S. Nathan, branch manager, National Screen Service, and.his wife, Westanna, were at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Atlantic City, in connection with a special managers’ meeting.... The Ladies Theatrical Club held a luncheon at the William Penn Hotel. Plans for fall activities were under discussion. ... W. A. V. “Bill” Mack, National Screen Service, is sporting a brand new Fleetline Sports Sedan. Variety Club Notes: On May 14, Family Night saw the newspapermen members of the club acting as hosts. Harold V. Cohen and Caspar Monahan were the featured stars. Cohen called off the lucky door prize numbers, and ‘Cap” floored the crowd with a funny song and dance number. The 269 guests at the “Bingo” game constituted a near record. .. .The Harry Rosenthals were the hosts at the May 21 Family Night. Sam Fineberg, Chief Barker, Variety Club, expects to be gone several weeks on a trip to Phoenix, Ariz. , to visit with his wife and family. Mrs. Fineberg was advised to stay in Arizona because of the beneficial climate, and he manages to get away from his duties at Alexander Theatre Supply several times a year to visit with them. Eagle Lion branch manager Jimmy Hendel and sales manager Johnny Zomnir recently returned from a visit to the home office in New York City. The humorous side of the trip was that the boys decided to fly in order to save time, but consumed nearly eight hours before they reached New York City. When they arrived at the Pittsburgh Airport, they discovered that the plane for which they had reservations was at the Allegheny County Airport, but the crew which was to fly it happened to be in Columbus, 0., and June 2, 1948